Mortgage Lending in May 2012

Mortgage lending in May 2012 jumped 33% on April 2012 and was up 24% on the same month a year previously.

48,300 loans for home purchase were made this time, says the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML).

£2.3 billion in mortgages were lent to first time buyers, a surge of 53% on May last year. The average first time buyer borrowed £104,000 in May, up from £97,750 in April. First-timers were lent 3.21 times their income on average (up from 3.12) and paid 19.6 per cent of their income in interest.

Re-mortgaging increased by £400million.

The market ‘bears’ are being predictably cautious at the positive indication that, along with house prices remaining stable, the property market is out of intensive care and may even begin to walk around unaided soon.

The pessimists call good news a blip. At what point is it that a series of blips make a trend, we wonder?